Fukuoka (aka Hakata) (July 22nd)

After the day in Hagi, I continued onto Hakata, a large port city in Japan also known as Fukuoka. Apparently they were two separate cities at one time. On the west side of the river was the castle town, and on the east side of the river a town for commoners. They merged in 1889 but the city continues to go by either name, which gets confusing for a foreigner who is already confused much of the time.

I only had an afternoon in Hakata, so I quickly visited Kushida-jinja, a large shrine famous for a summer festival, and the nearby Hakata Machiya Folk Museum. Both displayed the large festival floats which were very impressive and tall.


That was about all I had the time and the energy for (considering how hot and muggy it was!) that day.

This sign in the hotel lobby made me shake my head in bewilderment!


The next day, I boarded the jetfoil ferry to Busan, Korea! The trip on the jetfoil was uneventful, much like flying on an airplane. It took about only 3 hours and $240 to reach Korea! It's a bit less expensive than airfare from Japan to Korea (the flight is about $350 and takes an 1 and 1/2 hour). By taking the ferry, I was able to combine my trip to Korea with a trip to Nagasaki. But I'm getting ahead of myself...